[OB] Why the Very Last Page Scene?

[+Wax]

I think Hoid is stuck with Cultivation’s perpendicularity under siege by Odium.  No way to escape and re-enter on another planet without the perpendicularity...

[marianmi]

7 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

It literally says a pattern. It's a cryptic 

Sja-Anat is "Taker of Secrets"

Cryptics are attracted to secrets... 

[Stromblessed]

12 hours ago, Bliev said:

I also think that it might have felt like Elhokar was becoming a squire to Shallan. She draws him the photo, she encourages him to think of himself differently, an illusion of sorts, and he begins to grow into that illusion, like shallan does.

Nah Elhokar starts seeing Cryptic spren even before Shallan arrived at the Shattered plains .

His bonding with the spren may have been delayed because of his fear of them and maybe because as he says , the cryptic spren we're scared of when Kaladin briefly became Elhokars bodyguard. So he's not one of her Squires. We already know Squires swear the first Ideal and then attract spren

Though Shallan's sketch of Elhokar definitely seems to be a catalyst to him swearing his Ideals as he is looking at her sketch when he tries to swear the first ideal .

[Michael Portz]

On 19.11.2017 at 10:41 AM, desi_sparta said:

Couple of points regarding Hood:

1) Before bonding with the cryptic, Hoid already has access to allomancy, feruchemy, breathes, and elantrian magic (he talks about his hair coming off in chunks, which we know, can be done by the chemical that the monk drank on Elantris)

2) Hoid also has access to the moon sceptre, which is kind of a Rosetta stone. I'm assuming one of its abilities is to provide the end user with access to all kinds of investiture.

Regarding the cryptics:

1) They have been looking at Elgokar for a long time now.

2) At his death, Elhokar was about to bond one

3) When Spren cross over, it's a leap of faith for them. They don't know if they'll ever bond anyone. And until they do, they roam around mindlessly. It's the same reason that the comet Spren that was following Eshonai around started following Venli around after her death. The Spren should not go back. The cryptic that Elhokar was about to bond, has already crossed over, and thus could not go back. It has to find another host.

Taking all this into account, it seems like Hoid enticed the Spren with truths to bond with him. Recall guys conversation with Shallan when he used lightweaving. He told her that the Shards on this planet are very strict. I interpret it as that while Hoid was able to imbibe in himself the magic from other planets by hacking or shortcuts (burning a bead instead of snapping, borrowing breathes already collected by everyone else, drinking a chemical instead of being born in Elantris), the only way he could get surgebinding is by bonding a Spren. That's why his Fortune took him to that palace.

 

Regarding the voidbringers, do note that their entire focus from the start had been on capturing Kholinar. And they were not tearing down the whole palace, just specific section of it. Seems to me that the enemy had knowledge of something hidden inside the palace at Kholinar which he really really wants and that's what the parshendi were searching for.

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

I still have no idea how bonding really happens: is it first crossing and then bonding or first bonding and then crossing? Nevertheless, I agree with you in that the special thing for this spren was the mid-oath-interruption by Elhokars death. For sure there are several entities nearby who can make very good use of such a semi-bonded honor/cultivation spren, among them Wit, Moash(?), any of the Fused(?).